California voters will get a chance in November to decide whether to approve new boundaries for state Senate districts drawn by a citizens panel. Republican activists qualified a referendum on the controversial maps Friday.

Elections officials determined that the group Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting turned in 511,457 valid signatures of registered voters, about 6,000 more than were needed to put the referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot.

“FAIR will be asking voters in November to vote ‘no’ on these faulty Senate maps, so that new, fair and competitive districts can be drawn and put into place for the rest of the decade,” said Dave Gilliard, a Republican political consultant for the group. He said the districts were gerrymandered by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, which used new census data to redraw the 40 Senate districts.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that the California Citizen’s Redistricting boundary lines WILL be used for this November’s election. So, even if the referendum is approved the whole matter will revert back to the California Supreme Court who then has the power to redraw the lines anyway they wish.

Court and political pundits surmise that even though the people will throw out the Redistricting Committee’s lines via the ballot (and a big if at that), the Supreme Court’s redraw may not be that different anyway.

In the meantime, California Democrats are salivating at the prospects of taking two-thirds control of the State Senate in November.

The GOP will lose 1-4 seats in the State Senate in November, leading to a range from 26-29 members in the house in which 27 is the magic number. Democrats are anxious for 28, knowing that the party is certain to lose an Orange County seat in 2014. Of the four this year, one is a certain Dem pickup (SD17), another is likely (SD27) and two are toss-ups (SD05, SD31).

Also, since the California Republican Party is basically broke, it is doubtful that they will expend any more campaign cash to fund a speculative endeavor. So, the ballot proposition will likely fail at the polls from lack of trying to pass it.

Isn’t that what I said in the first place when the GOP decided to waste money funding the signature gathering?

Economic data currently is providing plenty of mixed signals to California’s policymakers, as they continue to craft state and local budgets in a constrained fiscal environment. California’s economy now is clearly improving in many important ways, including employment growth. Nevertheless, significant impediments block the state’s path to a more robust recovery from the recent, staggering economic downturn.

Like the economic data, reports concerning state revenues also have been delivering some mixed messages recently, with recent weakness in income tax payments accompanied by speculation concerning a future bonanza of tax revenues due to the possible initial public offering (IPO) of stock by Facebook, Inc. This report provides our updated projections concerning these and other trends in the economy and state revenues.

State Senator Sharon Runner is recuperating in a Los Angeles hospital after a successful double lung transplant. Runner is recovering at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The senator has limited scleroderma, or CREST syndrome, an autoimmune condition that attacks the body’s connective tissue.

In a statement over the weekend, Runner praised the UCLA medical team and she expressed gratitude to the family and friends of the anonymous donor.

Senator Runner previously announced last week she would not be running for re-election, as she awaited the transplant.